Toolan found guilty of first degree murder

Friday

Jun 22, 2007 at 2:00 AM

By Jason Graziadei

I&M Staff Writer

Twelve jurors needed only four hours to decide that Thomas Toolan III was guilty of first degree murder.

The former Manhattan bank executive was immediately sentenced to life in prison without parole for the killing of his ex-girlfriend, Elizabeth “Beth” Lochtefeld, in 2004. He left Nantucket Superior Court Thursday afternoon in handcuffs and shackles and was transported to the Cedar Junction state prison in Walpole, Mass.

Rejecting defense attorney Kevin Reddington’s argument that Toolan was insane at the time of the murder, jurors said they found no evidence of a mental disease or defect, and decided that the killing was a premeditated act of a man who knew what he was doing and understood the consequences.

A tense courtroom waited anxiously for the verdict as the jury finished its deliberations just before noon on Thursday. Members of the Lochtefeld family cried and hugged each other after the guilty verdict was announced. Sitting with her husband in the same spot they had occupied throughout the trial, Toolan’s mother Dolores also wept when the jury returned its verdict.

Photo by Jim Powers

Convicted murderer Thomas Toolan III is led from the Nantucket Town and County Building Thursday on his way to state prison.

“It’s not a happy day for anyone - we don’t rejoice in this,” said Tom Lochtefeld, Beth’s brother, outside the courthouse. “We find no glee that he’ll spend the rest of his life in some hellhole.”

Catherine Lochtefeld, Beth’s sister, read a victim-impact statement on behalf of the family in the courthouse, which her brother Jim read again for the television cameras outside the building.

“We can never forget the sorrow brought on by her death - sudden, violent, undeserved and alone. Our grief was sharp, intense, palpable and difficult to bear,” Catherine Lochtefeld said. “We do not rejoice that Mr. Toolan’s parents have, for all purposes, lost their son, even as Beth’s parents have lost their daughter. Yet we are relieved that this troubled, vengeful and dangerous man will never be able to harm another innocent person.”

After nearly three weeks of listening to testimony and legal arguments, as well as reviewing a mountain of evidence, members of the jury left the courthouse quickly, attempting to avoid the media by exiting the building through a side door. One juror, Kelly Garrett, said there was no evidence presented that convinced her Toolan was insane at the time of the murder.

“We went through all the medical records with a fine-toothed comb,” Garrett said. “There just wasn’t evidence of that in th e medical records. We looked at the law and we felt he was responsible.”

Prosecutor Brian Glenny, who methodically proved that Toolan executed a premeditated plan to murder his ex-girlfriend in her Hawthorne Lane cottage nearly three years ago, praised the different law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation and the Lochtefeld family.

“At no time did we ever think it was a legitimate defense,” Glenny said. “We never subscribed to the theory that he was not criminally responsible. The Lochtefelds have gone through a tragic situation. To hear how your daughter, sister or cousin was murdered for two weeks during a trial is difficult, and they were able to do that in commendable fashion.”

Asked if he felt Toolan had received a fair trial on Nantucket despite the pretrial publicity and the small community from which the jury was chosen, Glenny said, “without question.”

Toolan was found guilty not only of first degree murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison, but also assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. He was also sentenced to a nine to 10-year prison term on that charge, which will run concurrently with his life sentence.

The guilty verdict does, however, trigger an automatic appeal to the state Supreme Judicial Court. Reddington, one of the top defense attorneys in the state, said he would not represent Toolan on the appeal, because “I don’t do appeals.”

Asked for his reaction to the verdict, Reddington said, “You do the math - 144 exhibits, two weeks of trial, and a verdict in five hours? I understand it. I don’t really feel very pleased about it. But everyone in the courthouse and in the street expected it. “The (Toolan) family is very distressed,” Reddington continued. “They can’t understand why more deliberation and consideration wasn’t put into it. The evidence was there as to the brain defect.”

The fact that Judge Richard Connon rejected his motion for a change of venue will be central in Toolan’s appeal, Reddington said, as well as the fact that a juror was caught dozing off Wednesday during Connon’s instructions.

In a prepared statement issued after the verdict was read, District Attorney Michael O'Keefe said, "I hope this brings some measure of peace to the Lochtefeld family. They sat in the courtroom every day listening to some very difficult testimony."

O'Keefe also thanked Nantucket Police Chief William Pittman and his department, and State Police detectives from the DA's office for their tireless work on the case. Jim Lochtefeld, another of Beth’s brothers, continued reading the family’s statement outside the courtroom after the verdict was announced.

“Speaking on behalf of those who loved Beth, we will always remember the joy and kindness that she brought to those around her. Beth’s cup was full of enthusiasm, curiosity, adventure, and laughter; it overflowed with love and forgiveness. Her intelligence and achievements were remarkable,” Jim Lochtefeld said.

“We have always trusted that her accused killer would come to trial. It is not for us to judge his guilt or innocence," Lochtefeld continued. "We have come here to stand in Beth’s place, conscious that it was only the jurors’ judgment that really mattered, and that we would accept it. To that end, we always trusted that justice would be served.”

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